The Daedelus Chronicles
by Daedelus
Summary: And not even death could stop his genius...
1. Chapter 1

Daedelus Returns

A young colt coughed and wheezed in his bed as his mother checked his temperature yet again and frowned. His fever had gotten worse and worse since a few weeks ago after a massive explosion was heard in the distance. The colt managed to stutter out between coughing fits: "Mom, can I please have some... Water?"

"Of course, my darling. Just a minute." The sad and worried mare said to her son. She tried everything she could think of; doctors, herbal tonics, she even went so far as to ask a Zebra by the name of Zecora for help, but to no avail. The moonlight filtered in onto the colt's head which was practically drenched with sweat.

The rest of the dark room was neat and tidy, which was a distressing first sign when the mother first started noticing her son's illness. He usually had his toys lying over the entire floor, he himself being the only pony who could walk in the room without knocking anything over or tripping.

"I'll be back in a minute, sweetie." the distressed mother said. She walked out the door and closed it behind her. Halfway down the hallway she heard a scream unlike any other and galloped back into her son's room, to find a horrendous sight before her.

Laying in the bed, was a writhing body, half grey and half tan in coat colour with a green and purple mane. The natural tan and green of the pony that was once her son was now being covered with the grey and purple while the body grew to the size of a slightly smaller than average stallion.

After sliding to the floor and crying for a few minutes as her son became this new pony, she realised her sobs to be the only sounds in the house. Slowly lifting her head and craning her neck to see the outcome, she gasped and felt her heart shatter; her once beautiful son was now replaced by a stallion with a pair of purple eyes and a similarly coloured mane and an ashen grey coat. Aghast, the mother dropped her head and sobbed again, her son no longer in the room.

Tilting his head, the stallion stood slowly and stiffly, trying to come to terms with his body. The bones creaked and his joints popped as he put his weight upon them. After a short time, he stopped and frowned, a sound not unfamiliar but different to the cries of pain he was once used to. He walked to the foot of the bed, noticed the mare in the doorway and grinned, knowing now his experiments had succeeded; in his pages his soul lived on after his body passes.

He walked to his body's previous host's mother and placed a hand upon her shoulder, enticing a tear-stained look at his remorseless face. "You poor thing. You don't even understand this, do you?" he asked, getting no more than a shake of a head and more tears from the mother. "It'll be OK madame, the pain will all be gone soon..." he continued, his other hoof finding her cheek while the other rested on her shoulder. In no more than and extension of each leg, her head and body spun in different directions and the crying stopped with a loud snap.

Wiping his hooves on the dead pony's body, he looks down the hallway and takes in the details; two doors on the left, one on the right, open plan lounge and kitchen. He trots to the door on the right, opens it and finds the master bedroom, decorated with various paintings and small figurines upon a dresser, two bedside tables and a chandelier providing light into the large room. Checking the dresser, he found a suit and deduced the husband of his most recent victim to be quite a profitable pony.

After fitting himself into a rather dashing suit, he continued to remove small amounts of bits from around the house along with his notes from within the colt's bedroom and placed them into a set of saddlebags he had 'liberated' from the family. stepping out into the cool night, he looked back on the house and let out a cackle, knowing the father and husband's pain would be immense and said "It's good to be me. Beware all yee innocents, Daedelus has returned..." He then began a leisurely trot towards his lab's ruins in search of anything he could possibly scavenge from the wreck and hoped that Awe wasn't too thirsty...

[A/N: This is my second pony Fanfic and I'm so proud of myself. This will be the follow up of my previous work and I suggest reading it first to get some background knowledge about the setup of the following chapters. If you're not up to it, here's the just of it: Daedelus is a scientist with violent urges and intends to have control over all forces of power in existence, though uses science and alchemy to do so. Please PM me if you liked and leave a review. OH! And a special word of thanks to all my friends on Chatzy on whom I shall base many of the characters to come. 'Till next we meet.]


	2. Chapter 2

The New Beginning

Daedelus spent days avoiding the Royal Guards as they searched for the murderer of a mare in her own home and the kidnapping of her son. Grazing lightly on berries he knew not to be toxic from his alchemic practices, he scraped by on the edge of the Everfree and knew he had to abandon any hopes of coming back into society. He set his course for deeper into the dark woods, knowing of a small town housing a select few ponies whom he had never met before.

After about another two painstaking days of walking through the massive forest, he saw a break in the heavy foliage and smiled as the light held a new opportunity for him. He pushed his way through the last few branches and vines and broke into the light, the hamlet of Hoofville before him. He cackled again and made his way onward, noticing a stark white pegasus circling overhead and a cloaked figure laying in a tree above the street. Noting this, he changed course and headed rather for a construction shop, as building a new home would be a mission in itself not to mention the lack of help he expected.

Not a moment after he stepped within the town boundaries was he greeted by the pegasus once circling overhead. "Hey, I'm Brave Charger, mayor of this town, who are you?" the flying stallion spoke, the words nearly passing Daedelus right by with their speed.

"I am Daedelus, Mister Brave. A wonderful town you have here," Daedelus said, trying to butter the stallion up, "surely the property costs here must be enormous!"

"Nah, just pick a spot and build. And please, just call me Brave." was the reply, shocking the scientist.

"Oh, thank you very much. Good day." Daedelus said, walking past the mayor and into the hardware shop.

The store housed a meagre supply of sharp objects, focusing rather on taps, door hinges and cupboard handles. Noticing this, Daedelus frowned and trotted along until he saw what he was looking for; the axes and pickaxes. He lifted a pick and two axes from their handles along with the sole saw in the aisle and headed towards the counter to pay, when the cloaked figure could be seen leaving the store. Ignoring this, the scientist paid for his goods with the bits he had taken from his host's home.

After completing the purchase, Daedelus began looking around town for somewhere to build his home. Nowhere struck his fancy tough, and soon he found himself wandering towards the Everfree again when something in the near area caught his eye; a cave.

Galloping towards what he thought to be a grotto, he realised it to in actuality be a massive cavern, the inside large enough to hold a.. house...

Immediately, he removed a piece of chalk from his saddlebags and drew upon the stone at his hooves a detailed diagram of the house he wanted and smiled. Said smile soon dropped as he remembered the workload fell to him. "Well, it'll be worth it.. I hope." said the stallion as his challenge began; building his new and hopefully permanent home.

[A/N Another chapter done and more to upload. Thanks for reading and as I said before; PM and review and be prepared for more content very soon. And the same goes as before: Thanks so much to all my Chatzy friends, I couldn't do this without you. 'Till next we meet.]


	3. Chapter 3

Unsuspecting prey

It was early morning and through a small break in the foliage did a ray of sunshine hit the sleeping scientist directly in the eye. Groaning, he stood and shook the dirt from his coat while thinking immediately back on the house he was constructing. The foundation was dug, but he needed a large amount of gravel and sand to allow his house to stand strong. Moving slowly, Daedelus stepped into the cave and gasped, the sight before his eyes too much to behold.

Sitting where the hole that was to hold his home was a full batch of concrete, the bags once holding the mixture already poured and the walls half built. Slowly looking down, he saw his hooves filthy from nothing other than the concrete that now served as the base of his home and he sighed. Again, he had continued with his work in his sleep and thus his mind was groggy, not able to think straight due to a lack of proper rest.

Daedelus shook his head and thought simply "If it means the house is done sooner, then it's worth it" and continued with his building for the next few days. The routine went as follows: Get up, get to work, stumble around in the near dark before bed looking for food and water then go to sleep and repeat.

On the third day after his arrival, Daedelus looked up at his home and smiled, his glorious home standing before him. He stepped in through the wooden door he had made himself and chuckled at the thought of having guests that left his home smiling as he was. He continued his personal tour of the house and walked on the tile and wood line that separated the two bottom floor rooms, the lounge on his left holding two crude couches and a fire place that burned the old dry wood that was unusable in the construction of his home. On his right he passes the kitchen with a wooden larder, holding only a few bushels of berries, and the stone counter tops with a deep depression marking the sink's location.

After looking once more over the bottom floor of his home, he climbed up the stairs to the second floor, looking at the dark red door that marked his personal and most special room he blinked slowly and stood staring at the wooden boundary for what seemed only a few minutes, but was impossible to tell without a clock. He turned to his right and looked down the passageway at his own door, tinted a dark purple with a dye made of strange looking flowers he knew to be poison-joke. He looked left and saw a starch white door marking the bathroom, a crudely made small room containing a large stone tub and wooden bucket serving as a chamberpot.

Turning and walking to his right, he walked towards his own room for a moment's rest when a knock was heard on the front door. Gritting his teeth, Daedelus turned and walked back to his door and forgot his rage when he saw, standing on his own and with nopony to witness his actions, the mayor of the small town of Hoofville. "Hey Daedelus! How's it going? Nice house!" were the words that once again nearly flew clear past the scientist.

Grinning, Daedelus replied "Oh, hello Brave. Lovely to see you. Come inside, please. It must have been a long trip for you to visit my humble home."

"Oh, nah, it's nothing. Just wanted to see what your place looked like. I haven't seen you in the last few days, but at least I know why. This place is awesome!" the pegasus ranted, trotting merrily and unsuspectingly into Daedelus' home. The owner eyed the mayor greedily, noting every muscle movement and every time an artery pulsed beneath his white coat.

"Good, good.. Sit down, I'll get you some tea, then we can get to know each other a bit better.." said the scientist, his mind now intently focused on his next experiments, the pegasus his prey and his unknowing next victim...

[A/N Aand.. That's that one done. More on the way and most likely daily updates to the story. Please, as I have said before, PM and review and if you have the brilliant idea to share with a friend then I say "Cheers to you, friend." 'Till next we meet.]


	4. Chapter 4

The First

Daedelus lifted the kettle from its place on the stone stove and poured the hot water into two small teacups he had chanced upon while in the cave. The cups were found with various other objects; forks, quills, door hinges and what seemed to be teeth. This wasn't a very large concern however to the scientist while he walked with a tray holding the tea cups, a small bowl for sugar and a few biscuits.

Brave sat patiently, something Daedelus was shocked to see, upon the couch, his eyes contently passing across the room as he waited for his host to bring the tea. When, however, he saw Daedelus, he smiled instantly and began speaking once more, these words however did not manage to find Daedelus' ears and simply flew past him, though he nodded at times he thought appropriate.

After a few minutes the scientist spoke up, interrupting the pegasus' speech about some massive event. Daedelus said "Excuse my interruption, but, is there somewhere I could find some suitable work? I'm a bit low on funds..."

"Hmm..." Brave pondered, "I guess you could ask around town.. Not many ponies are hiring right now that I know of, but you can ask."

"Is there a doctor in the town? I am somewhat familiar with pony anatomy.." Daedelus replies.

"A doctor? No, nopony actually hurts themselves too badly here. We never really needed one."

"Well then I suppose it was too much to hope for. Would you mind, however, standing up quickly? I think I left something on the couch over there." Daedelus said, he himself reaching towards the side table and popping the lid from a syringe holding a mild sedative and moving towards the unsuspecting stallion.

"I don't see anything.. What were you lookin- Ouch! Daaddeluss... What wath that forr..." Brave managed before his body fell and hit the ground, the syringe having injected its full dose into his bloodstream. Once on the ground ,the world first became black and white, then blurry and finally his heavy eyelids closed as the pony who had stabbed him began to lift his body and laughed.

Grunting with effort, Daedelus moved Brave onto the couch and left him for the time being and pushed on a small stone that seemed slightly out of place amongst the round ones surrounding it. At its push, a doorway appeared and the darkness behind it was illuminated by a bright white light. Returning to Brave, Daedelus placed the syringe and its cap into the dustbin nearby and proceeded to carry the pegasus into his secret lab.

Opening the door, the scientist pony grinned as the stainless steel table in the centre of the room gleamed in the artificial light and the polished instruments he had scavenged from his destroyed lab lay sharp upon counters across from the table. Daedelus placed his unconscious victim upon the table and reached behind his purple mane for the small, stainless silver scalpel behind his mane and unclipped it from its leather holster and hiding place. Then his work began.

Reaching for a leg, Daedelus took note on the size of the hoof and noted the weight of the limb. He then proceeded to strap it down and did the same with the other legs, and finally the head. After securing the patient, he pulled the razor across his left foreleg and smiled as the blood flowed from the gash. He quickly tightened a knot of cloth higher upon the appendage and continued, making a 'T' shaped incision and examining the muscles and sinews of his test subject before extending the incision and examined the wound more closely, eagerly learning about the pegasus' anatomy.

After a good while on one leg, Daedelus sewed up the wound, undid the knot and proceeded to the next leg, proceeding differently in that he cut deeper as the see the muscle thickness, the bone size and carved a small chunk out of the bone for his tests. This went on for a further few minutes when Daedelus realised his guest was awakening. He sewed the wound up carefully and was able to look Brave right in the eye as he awoke.

"Aah, you're awake. I was actually wondering if I gave you too much. How do you feel?" Daedelus inquired, truly excited as to what was to be said.

Brave groaned and felt the sting from his forelegs reach his brain. "My legs... My hooves... What.. What have you done?" He moaned, trying to hold back the tears of pain.

"Oh, nothing much yet. I'm examining, making sure you will survive. You seem fit so far, but more is to be seen... Yes, much more.." Daedelus cackled, his mind spinning with excitement and the fatigue from before a thing of non-existence in his mind.

"Why... Why are you doing this?"

"Simply, my friend, because I need you. I need your body, but not your mind..." Daedelus said, preparing another dose of sedative. "Now go to sleep, I need you not to move, this is very delicate work..." Were the last words Brave heard before a needle once again pierced his skin and the world went blank...

[A/N Thanks to you guys who have read this so far and please, if you didn't catch onto the previous hint, share with your friends. PM me and review if you like or don't like the story and be sure to inform me if you may have a suggestion for a later topic. The updates might be a bit less frequent, but I'll get to it eventually, don't worry. Once again, I must say, thank you so much to all my Chatzy friends for the support and inspiration you have given me. 'Till next we meet.]


	5. Chapter 5

So close...

On went his torture and the experiments became more and more vile. His hooves removed then re-attached, his wings pulled from their sockets, popped back into place and eventually removed as the hooves. Through all this, Brave was broken. Pleading, crying and moaning only seemed to entice more of Daedelus' experiments upon the hapless pegasus. His malnourished body often slipped him in and out of consciousness. His ribs nearly poked holes in his now pale grey coat and his mane lay limp and was frizzled.

From his now upright place of rest, he looked around the room and looked over the memorised surroundings. He looked over the various blood-coated instruments and the bright florescent light from above shone light onto the crusty blades of the devices that mutilated his body. From just outside, Daedelus could be heard speaking briefly and the front door closed. The room was soundproofed, but only from one direction. Anything outside could be heard with absolute clarity but his screams made it nowhere but back into his own ears.

After a giddy trip outside of the lab, Daedelus returned holding a small parcel with various labels ranging from 'CONDEMNED' in bold, bright red letters to stickers with small flowers upon the tightly wrapped package. Putting the last ingredient he needed, Daedelus turned back to the mutilated pegasus, his body covered with stitch marks and crusted blood. Below, through the small drain wafted the stench of faeces and old blood; this the only exit from the lab other than the door. Brave mumbled a question as to what the package was, but nothing more than a raspy breath came through his lips.

Hearing the faint disturbance, the scientist turned and faced his filthy face towards his victim. "You're awake? I'll have to increase the dose again, won't I.. In any case, I think you want to know what this is, correct?" Daedelus asked and received a slight nod in reply. "Well, this my dear friend, is the ticket to your freedom from that table.

Brave jumped as he heard this and looked up, a smile on his face. Seeing this, Daedelus smiled kind. "Yes." he said "Freedom from your mind. This, you see, is a rather rare herb that cost me a lot more than I care to mention and more blood was spilled than there is in your small town. Yes.. Rather rare. You see, it has... Adapted, let us say, to the changeling environment. It has the ability to take on any form necessary and thus I can use it to my advantage."

Brave's face grew grim as he knew now that he wasn't going to survive. Changeling magic mixed into the mess he was already in? It was too much for him. He hung his head and sobbed, though no tears remained in his tiny form. Once more, the tortured pony asked "Why?"

"Simply, dear Brave," said Daedelus "because I need you, but not your mind. That I can do without. Now, go to sleep, it's a big day for you tomorrow..." and proceeded to open the morphine drip again, sedating the pegasus and rendering him helplessly strapped to the table.

Daedelus opened the package carefully using his scalpel and sorted through the various layers of bubble wrap and brown paper until he found his prize; one decayed flower. The flowers limp petals had a deep grey colouration and the stem was a deep emerald green. Carefully, Daedelus lifted the plant and put it in a mortar. He proceeded to pour in a gel that absorbed liquid and rendered whatever was touched dry as bone. After removing the goo, he ground the flower with a pestle and poured the resulting powder into a small pyramid shaped bottle. He stored the bottle on a shelf well above reach of any without his abnormally long legs and sighed; he would have to brew the mixture tomorrow, today he was too tired.

Turning out the lights in the lab, he whispered ever so quietly but still audible a sentence that calmed Brave's drug-induced dreams and allowed forgiveness to his torturer. All of his dreams that night revolved around "I'm sorry, I miss her too much."

[A/N I'm back, but the update's will still be a mite bit longer with intervals. Please, share with a friend, PM me if you want to have an OC in a future work and review so I know how well this is doing. 'Till next we meet.]


	6. Chapter 6

The result

The following morning flew by.

Daedelus practically blurred from room to room, collecting the ingredients from their hiding spots and preparing those by boiling, drying or crushing. He was in the middle of powdering the last griffon feather when the moans came from behind him and his smile broke out once more.

"And a good morning to you. How do you feel?" Daedelus asked, putting the mortar and pestal back onto the counter. He looked over the blood covered and malnourished Brave upon his steel torture table. The poking ribs and the shallow eyes gave away all anypony needed to know that he wasn't kept well.

"You said... You said it was my big day... Why?" Brave managed from between chapped lips and starained vocal cords unused to any sound other than screams. He looked over Daedelus and noticed a significant difference in the scientist aswell. The hollow cheeks, thinner frame and knotted mane indicated no rest and constant thought about these vile experiments.

Daedelus nodded excitedly and said "Yes, it is. Today you will become my perfect creation. I know everything about you now, so now all I need is your minds absence for this to work in my favour. Thus I can find her and bring her back..." Daedelus practically mumbled the last few words, but they managed to reach Brave's ears and he smiled.

"It's alright. I forgive you."

Daedelus felt an icy dagger stab him in the gut as the words entered his ears. Forgiveness? This was unheard of, unspeakable. But... He was forgiven. After his constant torture, Brave forgave him. The sicentist pony simply turned and returned to his powdering. As the pestal ground the feather within though, Daedelus' mind raced.

After grinding the feather, turning the poison joke into a thick paste, liquifying the alicorn eye and crystalising the Changing Violet, he cackled. Then began the true challenge; not failing with the recipie absent.

Firstly, a pot of crystal clear water was set to simmer over a low flame and the griffon feather powder halved into two portions. The Changing Violet crystals were then placed into the simmering liquid along with the liquified alicorn eye. Into this now crimson broth the pure griffon feather was added and allowed to sit for two minutes as Daedelus employed his alchemy skills to mix the poison joke and griffon feather without it becoming warmer than body temperature which required a thin spread of it over the stainless steel counter, this magnificent surface somehow simply found laying in the cave.

Once the brew bacame a deep emerald green, the paste was added and the concoction left to settle. As it boiled, he faced Brave once more and said "Thank you." before unstrapping him and letting him fall to the gorund. Brave groaned as his sore muscles refused to respond and his weight seemed more than the mountain above him.

"What.. What did you do that for?" he asked, his mouth barely forming the words from its place against the floor.

"I need you unstrapped and conscious for this to work. Now please, try to lift yourself up from the floor, I need to be able to move." Daedelus said, stepping over the bony mass.

After a lengthy struggle against his own weak muscles and the immense force of gravity, Brave managed to haul himslef up and lean against the wall, though anything he did would be futile. He couldn't run, Daedelus would catch him. If he stayed then Daedelus would have his way, and if he made a noise, it would only enrage Daedelus. Though doing nothing was worse though, so by sheer willpower Brave began his journey through Daedelus' home.

He managed to leave the lab without Daedelus noticing as he was busy over whatever that strange liquid was. He trudged into what seemed to be a lounge and saw the door that seemed to lead outside. Following the bright light shining through the kitchen windows, the tortured mayor headed for his freedom but had the terrible suspicion he was noticed. This suspicion was confirmed when a scream from a mad scientist was heard from the dark passageway to the lab followed by hoofsteps.

Brave darted towards the front door and knocked the rusty-hinged barrier from its frame. He then tubled down the stairs and landed on the hard stone floor of the cave with great force, the pain from his ribs intensified when the door landed on his back. Brave stuggled from beneath the wooden door and froze when a pair of hooves stomped before him. Though these were not the hooves that once tortured him. Instead, a cloaked pony stood before him, a hookblade visible beneath his woolen garments and his head obscured from vision.

Brave did something he never thought he'd do again in his lifetime; he laughed. He laughed and laughed with joyun until the pain in his chest made him stop. He rolled over and smiled but dropped his grin when a new pain emerged from back. He moved his hoof beneath him and dropped his jaw in horror when an empty syringe coated with blood sat before his eyes and a sinister laugh was heard from the house.

"What have you done to him!?" The cloaked pony called out. "Explain yourself!"

Daedleus cut his maniacle laugh short when the voice he heard struck a bell and he recognised the newcomer from his past endevours. He looked towards the one who first greeted him when he found meaning in life and said "Frostburn? You actually stay here? I'm shocked, but it does not matter. I am still Daedelus, and you now stand above my perfect creation."

The assassin Frostburn looked at the scientist in confusion before he realised the groaning sounds alongside the sickening creaking and popping of bones and joints. Looking down, a writhing mass of flesh twisted and curled from what was once Brave Charger, mayor of Hoofville, into Bane Charger, Daedelus' personal servant. His legs bent in ways nothing ever should and his head rotated further than his spine should allow. The feeling of nausea caught up to him and Frostburn tasted his breakfast as Bane creaked into his new, deformed shape.

Standing on what were once his hind hooves, Bane hunched a large and overly muscled torso connected to an up-side-down head and two appendages simmilar to his forelegs, though the leg faced the wrong way, the joints pointing outwards. All of this creature was coloured a deep grey colour and the eyes were nothing more than two black spots on two red balls.

"Brave Charger is no more. Now, Bane Charger, fetch our guest; I'm sure you're hungry." Daedelus said, his plans one step closer to completion.

[A/N I am not trying to rectify myself, but I have had some rough goings recently that prevented me from thinking about this Fanfic. I know I was wrong, so know that I am to blame. Now, back to the happier thoughts, I hope you're enjoying so far, please don't forget to tell your friends about this story, PM and review your opinion about this story and to all those in my story, I couldn't have done it without you. 'Till next we meet.]


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